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March 1997
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March 1997 Table of Contents
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The Navigator for March 1997 |
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National Poetry Month |
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| Hypocrisy is everywhere. And this being National Hypocrisy Month we are saddled with the duty of identifying the bundle of contradictions that comprise life in America. Now is when we look at the discrepancy between what is professed and what is actualized. Where are the obvious absurdities, the oxymorons of daily existence? Since each person is a microcosm of the whole we find the same untruths in ourselves as in the largest structures. B.K. Mahoney's editorial is a good start toward addressing the lies (The Fat and the Skinny, p. 12). How do we react to sex/sensuality? We see in these reactions the Puritan underpinnings of our young nation and how the massive industry of pornography is based our inability to accept sex and sensuality as a natural aspect of life. Pornography is so compelling because it enjoys an aura of the forbidden. Here again, the cops create the criminals. Or as Ms. Roberts writes in "Nineties Mysticism in Black Face," page 18, the beneficent ideas of eastern spirituality are twisted and exploited by big business to suck more money out of the pockets of the working class. But the real question remains: how can we make use of these sentiments to effect real change? How can we better align actions with intentions? A prerequisite, I think, lies in accepting the parts of ourselves which we would rather not admit are there-the essential cravings which don't fit the mold provided by school, family, media. These are real urges-maybe even for the spiritual or creative-which can't find a positive outlet, and so we leave them to erupt, often destructively, like some pornography of the soul. Accepting these parts of ourselves, as microcosms of the whole, is the first step toward acknowledging the shadowy parts of our culture. Here I can begin to see that someone else's problem is none other than my own, and that addressing weaknesses in myself strengthen others. >>Jason Stern, pub. |
